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People have used tobacco for well over a thousand years. And researchers recently found unique physical evidence of the ancient habit. They detected traces of tobacco in a 1300-year-old Mayan container. The work is in the journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.

Based on hieroglyphics¹ and images of people smoking, archaeologists assumed that the Mayans used tobacco. In the hope of finding physical remains², the researchers examined the inside of a particular clay flask³ dating back to the year 700 AD. Analysis of the flask revealed the presence of nicotine⁴, as well as a few products of nicotine oxidation.

The chemical analysis owes some of its success to a dirty container—because the inside of the flask was not cleaned, the nicotine residue⁵ remained uncontaminated. It also helped that the flask had a single purpose, and was not reused to hold multiple products. But the most important aid to this discovery was undoubtedly⁶ some Mayan writing on the container. Which roughly translated means: container for tobacco.

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1 hieroglyphics
n.pl.象形文字
参考例句：
Hieroglyphics are carved into the walls of the temple. 寺庙的墙壁上刻着象形文字。 His writing is so bad it just looks like hieroglyphics to me. 他写的糟透了，对我来说就像天书一样。

2 remains
n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹
参考例句：
He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。 The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 flask
n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱
参考例句：
There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。 He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

4 nicotine
n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱
参考例句：
Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。 Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

5 residue
n.残余，剩余，残渣
参考例句：
Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。 Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

6 undoubtedly
adv.确实地，无疑地
参考例句：
It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。 He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。